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Sunday, March 19, 2017

Oz - More Transitions! What Bit the Dust?

Road to Blowhole Beach, Deep Creek area, South Australia - 4 Wheel Drive only. This is one of the reasons we sold our vanand bought a 4-wheel drive to complete our circumnavigation of Oz.

How
many folks allow 3 days to sell one home, move into another much
smaller one and hit the road? And how many of those moved only a
month earlier from their home of 5 years into another, much, much
smaller one? How many of them do that whole process in a foreign
country, halfway around the world from friends and family, with no
place nearby to store their stuff?

It’s
crazy, but not impossible.

We’re
living proof.

Our
first gauntlet, however, was not 4-wheel driving or downsizing, but
navigation Melbourne’s hellish road construction….

We bought our 4 wheel drive in Melbourne, but in large part to get out of Melbourne and maddening driving like this,encountered on our trip to pick up the Land Cruiser we bought. Melbourne, Australia.

First,
a little background….

Given
the available options at the time, we’d decided on the first
4-wheel drive was saw – a 1997 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Grande
with about 300,000 km. “Cruisies are good for at least 500,000
km,” opined our sage Townsville “bush-block” friend Peter. It
was set up with a comfy bed, a roo bar, under-bed storage, a roof
rack, and – key for us – air conditioning. Other nicities
included the usual assortment of kitchen necessities (pots, pans,
dishes, cutlery etc), a very small “fridge,” 2 chairs, a
substantial fold-out table and an awning. Other than a sunburnt
hood, the SUV was in great shape.

Leo (the guy we bought our Land Cruiser from) and his girlfriend crossed the Nullarbor, and spent a month travel/
sleeping in the Cruiser, but after 6 weeks of driving, didn’t find
they needed it now that they were working in Melbourne. Leo lamented
the loss of the Land Cruiser bed though, as they found it more
comfortable than the mattress in their apartment.

Before
we completed our purchase of the Land Cruiser, we wanted to wait
until we had a buyer identified for our van. Leo’s next potential
buyer wasn’t around for another week, so we had the time.
Apparently the market for Land Cruisers wasn’t as hot as the market
for vans.

Still blocked. Our long drive in Melbourne to buy the vehicle to get us the heck out of the big city! Melbourne, Australia.

What
we didn’t expect was that our former 15 minute drive would take us an hour
and a half – an hour longer than we’d allotted. A couple main
thoroughfares near Leo’s were closed off for a substantial stretch.
When we finally got clear, we got stuck behind a road truck.
Several “We’re almost there – really!” texts ensued.
Fortunately, it was Leo’s day off work, so our tardiness didn’t
put him into a jam.

We gave up a lot of "creature comforts" to make the switch from our van to a 4-wheel drive SUV.Still, a lot came with it, too. Melbourne Australia.

Now
our home for the next 5 or so months, the Land Cruiser, was only ~¼
of the storage space of the van.

Once
again, I danced my humiliating little walk of downsizing shame, writ
large, as this time, it was more public.

“Yard
sale?” inquired a soccer player, one of many encroaching in “our”
space in a formerly deserted field of a Melbourne suburb.

As
usual, it took me several hours deciding what to shed. As usual,
Wayne waited, as for a minimalist like him, the process took only a
few minutes.

How
was I going to manage our meals with no kitchen, no sink, a “fridge”
only large enough to hold a six-pack, a one-burner portable gas camp
stove, one small box for coffee and tea, one box for all my cooking
implements and utensils and one box for all food and food
ingredients? Oh and did I mention we rarely eat out, we would
frequently be in wilderness areas far from grocery stores and that
Wayne is on a gluten-free diet?

We
also needed to carry our clothes for the next 5 months, all required
personal hygiene and 1st aid products, two laptop
computers, a Kindle, and iPad, several mobile phones and whatever
else we believed we’d need for entertainment and about 20,0000+ km
of travel for 5 months.

I
began the process late afternoon, and struggled to complete my task
as fall’s early darkness approached. Meanwhile, my sorting space
got smaller and smaller as the empty soccer field filled with several
matches. At least the weather cooperated, it was mild and sunny,
neither windy nor wet. My prior downsizing was executed in 100
degree weather a motel back parking lot.

Finally,
I was done, at least done enough that we’d tossed some items,
identified what would stay in the van for its new owner, what was
coming with us, what was getting donated to charity and what was else
was getting shipped back to the US to sit in my generous in-laws
garage.

What
didn’t make the cut (partial list)

about
half my clothes

“tupperware”
all but 2 bowls with handles, 2 sandwich-sized flat squares, a few
really tiny ones and 2 spice boxes

the
2 remaining broken, scraped picnic plaid Everett Washington op-shop
trays we used for plates (and Wayne adored and we used daily for the
last 4 ½ years)

fish
sauce – used in home-made pad thai and Asian salad dressings (since found a tiny bottle of fish sauce)

Time will tell what jettisoned items I’ll regret and what kept items weren’t worth their space.

Warnambool, Australia, at the end of New South Wales Great Ocean Road, and where we jettisoned yet more stuffto lighten our load for our travels through Australia.

What
would you keep – and lose – if you only had a few bins for your
galley for 5 months road-tripping?

Wayne, reducing drag on our Land Cruiser whilst I added more stuff to the Salvos box. Warnambool, Australia.

Location
Location

We
transitioned between our van and the Land Cruiser in the Melbourne
area, February 23, 2017. We are currently over 5,000 km and 3,000 miles down the road
since then. We're currently in Western Australia, near Perth.

Our Land Cruiser on stunningly beautiful Lucky Beach, Cape Le Grand National Park, Western Australia.Another great reason to have 4-wheel-drive when touring Australia.

Up
Next

We’re
continuing our clockwise circumnavigation of Oz, targeting completion
in August 2017. There will be posts along the way, as well as
continued catch-up up posts.

We added this $99 AUD (~$72 USD) tent. We left the canopy off when we set up in this Deep Creek South Australia campground. The bed and bedding came with the Land Cruiser. If we're setting up late, leaving really early or the weather is bad, we sleep in the Land Cruiser; otherwise we sleep in the tent. If it's really bad, we'll go for a backpacker lodging or an affordable motel, but not much room for many of those in the budget.